There's nothing spectacular about The Simpsons Movie. It's basically an extra-long, very funny episode of the TV show, mixing the satire of the earlier seasons with the "let's see how much physical harm Homer can undergo" slapstick of the current show.

As a friend of mine pointed out, the movie had something the later episodes lack: a sense of pacing. So many recent episodes take forever to set up their stories, and then have to rush to resolve things within 22 minutes. There were also some good subplots, and some clever, not-too-obvious in-jokes (Springfield gorge returns, as does Bart's elephant). I could have done without the "can't get away with this stuff on TV" moments (full-frontal nudity from Bart, Otto smoking pot, more profanity). It's not that those things are offensive to me, but they feel like "We're doing this because we can," as if the writers turned into a bunch of kids left home with R-rated movies.

The only other downside to the movie was sitting through the appalling trailers. It's just the way movies work: whatever you're there to see, they show trailers in that vein. So because we were there to see an animated comedy, we got:

An updated version of Horton Hears a Who, because if there's one thing the Dr. Seuss books lack, it's snarky, sitcommish dialogue and a hyperactive Jim Carrey.

Daddy Day Camp, a sequel to the Eddie Murphy comedy Daddy Day Care, featuring Cuba "Can You Believe I Won An Oscar" Gooding Jr.

There might have been more, but my brain shut down after watching the computer-generated Alvin eat...well...I'd rather not describe it. Anyone who watched Ratatouille (the best movie of the summer, animated or otherwise) underwent the same experience. It's like a rule, the smarter the movie, the dumber the trailers.